At twelve years old I was taking in my last breath as my world turned blank after. Being that age, you do not expect your light to be blown out especially when you have a whole kingdom to build ahead of you. I was diagnosed with Meningitis after having double vison and a painful headache during my science class that sent me home and then to the emergency room. Nine days felt eternal. The things that I was excited to do within my lifetime were all rapidly visioned into my head such as Simba excitement to be king.
During lunch periods when it would rain out, we would stay in the school’s auditorium to watch The Lion King on the huge projector and sing along with the subtitles at the bottom of the big screen. The musical song of “The Circle of Life” was at the top of my lungs, and it went like this “From the day we arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun. There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than can ever be done”. The loud calling with the harmonic angelic voices escalating creates the imagery of the sunrise at 6am where the suns ray meet the horizon while the main calming soft voice portrays the tenderness of eyes opening when waking up. The clueless face of Simba represented the innocence that any child has that can be seen when Simba is traditionally blessed by Rafiki by putting fruit nectar and dirt on Simbas forehead which resembles baptism in the Roman Catholic religion.
On my death bed the scene behind the song played repeatedly in my head. Simbas kingdom of lions, zebras, elephants and all other creatures were coming together for him just as my people did for me but this time being connected to wires did not feel like the freedom that Simba felt, it did not feel like the kingdom was mine, I was just there, numb. My mother’s kingdom fell after seeing me turn purple due to no oxygen circulation in my body. When returning from the hospital I rewatched that specifically part of the film, but after being disconnected all just hit different when you literally had your life hanging by a thread.
The iconic lift of Simba resembled the new life and restart that each day gives us while the ray of sunshine immersed Gods symbolic pureness into the new beginnings. Simbas mother, Sarabi, would hug and stare at the innocence that Simba had and never leave his side just as my mother did. The elephants rang their trunks, the monkeys jumped up and down, while all else celebrated and danced. The relief and joy when I departed the hospital was the lift off my loved ones relatives. As I grew older this song was not a song that I would listen to anymore and the movie was past my interests for though Disney movies always a deeper life lesson to be taught.
The ideology of being the perfect figure was a journey that I traveled just to get back to where I started. Birthday after birthday I tried to add on a layer of matureness so that I felt people would see me as a more responsible and serious adult and not the playful lion that I portrayed. Back in my elementary school days, my parents would say comments in comparison with one of my closest friends, Brenda, that would irritate me each time. “Why can’t you be more organized like Brenda?’ and so on. The continuation of comparison throughout the years made it a mission to be perfect. Brenda had the mature personality at a young age, whereas I would goof around and not mind much.
After getting a glimpse of Bad Bunnies taste of flow in 2016, it did not catch my attention at first with its dark, evil vibe. I was fully consumed by his music when he took a different approach to his “El ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO” album that released in November 2020. The feeling of being able to do whatever you want gave me goosebumps. He always projected his emotions, thoughts, and political stand throughout most of his albums but under this specific album, the song “El MUNDO ES MIO” stood out to me. “¿Quién dijo que no? Ey, que no puedo. Yo hago lo que me de la gana” which translates to “Who said no, who said I can’t, I do what I want to do”. It is a hard serious toned voice when saying it which makes me visualize a direct and triggered persona. The slow uprising stomping beat gives it the atmosphere of an “I’m here and this is what I have to say; you are going to hear it weather you like it or not” without actually saying it. The loud drop of beat at fifty seconds into the songs, gives it the anxious wait that want after hearing a steady beat from the start. The drop of beat after the steady beat resembles Bad Bunnies wait of being who he is. He kept his progress going and then BOOM, he made an explosion.
Being guided and molded since the start by your parents is simply a reflection of the ideal image that your parents never got to be. “Te lo dije hace mucho tiempo que como yo no hay dos”, refers to that in the past, he has told people that there is double like him. The flipbook of flashback hit me once again. It was me mad at the comparisons. Bad Bunnies voice saying it was my silent scream. The scream of tiredness when compared, the scream of annoyed when not doing it my way, and the scream of uniqueness when wanting to be copied.
Additionally, the song title demonstrates where he stands politically for it says “The World is Mine” giving his listeners the chance to fit his shoes to see the journey of why he is why he is. The add on of him flexing where he is now portrays the hard work that anyone from the bottom can make it. That its all depends on you. He says “Yo pase de 0 a 7.25, despues de un million” to his haters, to downplay their criticism of being a nobody in life. The digits are his bank account numbers and how they grew for to show his success in numbers. The stompy in your face tone of the beat and lyrics show him showing off due to his work ethic and trash talk to the people that didn’t believe in him. The concept of being unique influences onto me and probably many others that listen to him like designing and making clothes, music production, and be you because there’s only one of you while proving other people wrong.
Though both these texts may not seem similar, they connect the idea of living YOUR life. You make the best out of it. Being at the cliff at a young age, it changes the lifestyle and point of view of the individual. Hearing from the doctors that Meningitis could have left me in a wheelchair or with the loss of speech gave me the courage to be thankful and strive. The strength of, El Conejo Malo, gave it the polish to not listen to no one, be yourself, and do what makes you happy because tomorrow is not promised. The new life opportunity of being anybody you want to be is possible, chase it. I now dress the way I want to dress and live in the moment for it may be the last. The extra gasp of air that God gave me was the light that shined on Simba when raised while Bad Bunnies song was wakeup call of me making my own realty, I’m in charge.
